Field
This disclosure relates to audio signal processing.
Background
Active noise cancellation (ANC, also called active noise reduction) is a technology that actively reduces acoustic noise in the air by generating a waveform that is an inverse form of the noise wave (e.g., having the same level and an inverted phase), also called an “antiphase” or “anti-noise” waveform. An ANC system generally uses one or more microphones to pick up an external noise reference signal, generates an anti-noise waveform from the noise reference signal, and reproduces the anti-noise waveform through one or more loudspeakers. This anti-noise waveform interferes destructively with the original noise wave to reduce the level of the noise that reaches the ear of the user.
Active noise cancellation techniques may be applied to personal communications device, such as cellular telephones, and sound reproduction devices, such as headphones, to reduce acoustic noise from the surrounding environment. In such applications, the use of an ANC technique may reduce the level of background noise that reaches the ear by up to twenty decibels while delivering useful sound signals, such as music and far-end voices. In headphones for communications applications, for example, the equipment usually has a microphone and a loudspeaker, where the microphone is used to capture the user's voice for transmission and the loudspeaker is used to reproduce the received signal. In such case, the microphone may be mounted on a boom or on an earcup and/or the loudspeaker may be mounted in an earcup or earplug.